PC Mover or fresh install

[shaz56]

As the title suggests I am getting a new PC next week and wondered should I do a fresh install (I use Beta +a lot of mods with JSJME) or should I use "PCMover" to transfer all my data, software etc. Reason I ask is that over the years I seem to have accumulated a lot of odd files in my DCS Beta folder, dll's and the such. I am not a programmer so I'm not sure whether to delete certain files or leave them be, after yesterdays update it take ages to boot up the sim yet the update was supposedly to speed up the process. Any thoughts ?:pilotfly:

[Motomouse]

Do a fresh install.

 

If you go the other way you will always think: If I did a fresh install this particular performance problem would probably not have raised its head.

 

 

In the days of the internet cloud it is usually much faster to do a fresh install and redownload only what is needed just now. (Just did a fresh install over my borked windows two weeks ago, all went fine).

 

 

 

Just be prepared to enter all the control adjustments for your planes again (or save them to the cloud in advance.)

Edited June 11, 2020 by Motomouse

[dali]

fresh, clean install. and then make a backup with your preferable backup software.

[David OC]

Fresh install windows yes.

 

Copy and paste as many installs as you want of dcs to new pc. Turn them into any build you want.

Clean and repair after. Not tied / installed into windows.

Edited June 11, 2020 by David OC

[Lynnux]

Just installed DCS on a new PC.

Btw. entering multpiplayer games takes noticeably longer now in 2.5.6 stable than in 2.5.5 stable before.

 

 

ED recommends not to simply copy DCS and run it but do kinda fresh install via the method posted in the FAQ (https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/support/faq/):

How to install DCS without Internet on PC ? (or traffic issues on PC)

 

Due to the rather large volume of the simulator there are often questions about copying of DCS World, which is already downloaded on another computer. "Frontal" way of copying might work, but sooner or later it will end up in a complete reinstall.

 

How to properly and safely do this:

 

1. Copy the existing module to any temporary location (external Flash Drive), preserving the folder structure of simulator (for example, E:\DCSCopy\).

2. Create in the root directory of the DCS simulator the text file with the title: dcs_local_source.txt

3. The contents of the file is the path to a temporary directory, in this case (UTF-8!): E:\DCSCopy\

4. Run DCS World web installer and follow the installation process. The Updater will read the dcs_local_source.txt file and find your existing files, compare the version numbers, download all the required and will install it correctly.

5. After installation of DCS World on second PC, you can delete the temporary directory.

Unfortunately this method didn't work for me but what you still can do in this case:

 

 

1. On your current PC do a DCS World repair (should be in the start menu in the DCS folder).

2. The repair tool will ask you to either keep the files not belonging to DCS or to remove them. If you remove them, DCS will place them into a "_backup.xxx" folder below the "DCS World" folder, so they are not totally lost ;). Removing them will give you a cleaner DCS for the installation step.

3. Save your DCS on an external harddisk or whereever you have still space. It were almost 200 GB in my case. Can be zipped or not but you have to be able to access and unzip with your new PC.

 

4. On your new PC, install DCS freshly via the web installer. Let the DCS launcher run for some time so it will build the folder structure in the "_downloads" folder below "DCS World". I noticed that all the files are unpacked there and ready to just being copied.

5. Copy those folders from your original DCS into the new "_downloads" folder. Just copy those folders, no additional ones (like the _downloads, _backup.xxx and SRS folder). You can skip the files already inside there.

 

6. Continue the installation with the launcher. It should check for already downloaded files and just copy the files from the "_downloads" folder and only download some missing files.

 

Remark: the installation is usually done in two steps, first DCS World then the additional modules you purchased.

 

7. After the installation is complete, do a DCS repair again.

8. Delete the remaining content in your new "_downloads" folder.

 

 

This will still speed up the installation, especially if you have a slow internet connection.

 

 

9. But that's not all because all your config files are in the "...\Users\<Username>\Saved Games\DCS" folder (short: under "Saved Games" in your user folder).

You can either just dumbly copy all those files or clean it a bit (tracks, log-files, multiplayer server favorite list, ...). If just copying, take care that the path to this Saved Games\DCS is the same as before or you may have to adapt some paths in the config files.

 

Anyways I had to reapply all the joystick settings to every plane in the new DCS. They are usually in "...\Saved Games\DCS\Config", so this one is important.

Beware that there may be other folders in the "Saved Games" depending on your purchased modules.

 

 

10. After applying your Saved Games\DCS start DCS. Enter a multiplayer game requiring an unmodified client, this will tell you immediately if your client is ok. If not, do a DCS repair again.

 

 

Useful tools: a better text-editor, a tool to zip/unzip, large harddisks ;)

 

 

Good luck !

Edited June 11, 2020 by Lynnux

[shaz56]

Thanks guys for all your input. I thought a fresh install would be the best way to go. Although I do have a lot of config files in saved games that I will carefully try to reuse. (don't fancy taking a week off for all my inputs) lol Thanks again for the advice and tips.

[BitMaster]

Imho for DCS: Copy->Paste->Clean->Repair

 

Skatezilla's Update Tool is a handy tool btw.

[dburne]

Yep especially for DCS a fresh new clean install is the way to go imho.

I did this when I built this system in Jan 2019.